1.
Kiki Camarena
–
Enrique S. Camarenas nickname was Kike in Spanish, and Kiki in English. From 1973–1975, Camarena served in the United States Marine Corps, after which he joined the DEA, at their Calexico, California, in 1977, Camarena moved to the agencys Fresno office, and in 1981, he was assigned to their Guadalajara office in Mexico. Camarena had also worked as a firefighter and police investigator before joining the DEA in Calexico. Camarena, who had identified as the source of the leak, was abducted in broad daylight on February 7,1985 by corrupt police officers working for drug lord Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. Camarena was tortured at Gallardos ranch over a 30-hour period, then murdered and his skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones and windpipe were crushed, his ribs were broken, and a hole was drilled into his head with a power drill. He had been injected with amphetamines and other drugs, most likely to ensure that he remained conscious while being tortured, Camarenas body was found in a rural area outside the small town of La Angostura, in the state of, on March 5,1985. Camarenas torture and murder prompted a reaction from the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and launched Operation Leyenda. A special unit was dispatched to coordinate the investigation in Mexico, investigators soon identified Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and his two close associates, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, as the primary suspects in the kidnapping. Under pressure from the U. S. A. to President Miguel de la Madrids government, Fonseca and Quintero were quickly apprehended, the United States government pursued a lengthy investigation of Camarenas murder. Despite vigorous protests from the Mexican government, Álvarez was brought to trial in Los Angeles in 1992, after presentation of the governments case, the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict, and charges were dropped. Álvarez subsequently initiated a suit against the U. S. government. The case eventually reached the U. S. Supreme Court, the four other defendants, Vásquez Velasco, Juan Ramón Matta-Ballesteros, Juan José Bernabé Ramírez, and Rubén Zuno Arce, were tried and found guilty of Camarenas kidnapping. Arce had known ties to corrupt Mexican officials, and Mexican officials were implicated in covering up the murder, Mexican police had destroyed evidence on Camarenas body. A CIA spokesman responded that “its ridiculous to suggest that the CIA had anything to do with the murder of a U. S. federal agent or the escape of his killer. ”Camarena received numerous awards while with the DEA, and he received the Administrators Award of Honor. In Fresno, the DEA hosts a golf tournament named after him. The nationwide annual Red Ribbon Week, which school children. In 2004, the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation was established in Camarenas memory, Camarenas wife Mika and son Enrique Jr. Camarena is survived by his wife Mika and their three sons. Several movies about Camarena were produced in Mexico, and he is referenced in others, in November 1988, TIME magazine featured Camarena on the cover